What, if anything, are you doing to combat the comercialism of theseason? OT, but WTH

Tanada wrote in message
link.net...

So, what are you doing to lessen the commercialism of the season? What
are your most cherished traditions of the season?

Pam S.


I love making the nut roast on Christmas morning with Ade, working together
whilst we listen to the carol service on the local radio station. Neither of
us are Christians, but there's something wonderfully nostalgic about singing
along to those old songs.

Jeanette

Tanada wrote:

So, what are you doing to lessen the commercialism of the season? What
are your most cherished traditions of the season?

My family's yules are pretty quiet affairs, now that all the kids are
pretty grown-up (my youngest niece is 15, my other niece 22 and nephew
21). On the Eve, we gather at my sister's for a big meal, everyone
bringing their own contributions. I've always given books for presents
(maybe that makes me the boring auntie...), not very expensive, but I
usually give them a lot of thought and try to really find something that
the presentee will like. We're not Christians, so we don't go in for any
of the church stuff, but since it's time off from work, we take the
opportunity to be with the family.


--
Marina, Frank and Nikki
marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

Tanada wrote:

So, what are you doing to lessen the commercialism of the season? What
are your most cherished traditions of the season?

My family's yules are pretty quiet affairs, now that all the kids are
pretty grown-up (my youngest niece is 15, my other niece 22 and nephew
21). On the Eve, we gather at my sister's for a big meal, everyone
bringing their own contributions. I've always given books for presents
(maybe that makes me the boring auntie...), not very expensive, but I
usually give them a lot of thought and try to really find something that
the presentee will like. We're not Christians, so we don't go in for any
of the church stuff, but since it's time off from work, we take the
opportunity to be with the family.


--
Marina, Frank and Nikki
marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

So, what are you doing to lessen the commercialism of the season? What
are your most cherished traditions of the season?

Pam S.

Gad. I don't know what to do and I'm already in a state of controlled panic,
just like every year. I'm really sick of that and it's got to stop. I enjoy
getting the decorations out and the tree.But the shopping, forget it. It's
already a nightmare out there, and I get the feeling sometimes it doesn't mean
anything--we're just all puppets on the ends of the consumer marketing industry
strings. We're constantly bombarded from every direction.
It's time for me to quit worrying about my kids being disappoint if I don't
find the *exact right gift*. For God's sakes, they are 22 and 27.
Part of it is that since I quit working I have turned into practically a
recluse and I am starting to get almost phobic about crowds. The other part is
we absolutely do not have the extra cash this year.
But I digress... to answer your question, I've always found the really little
things I enjoy at Christmas. Even in this little town, there is a holiday
school band concert, the elementary school does a children's play/chorale. The
local piano teacher holds a Christmas recital for her students. I like to drive
around and look at lights. Our little country church does a Christmas music
service. And the cards! I am already getting *beautiful* cards from rpca and
that's going to be one of my favorite Christmas things, too.
Sherry

So, what are you doing to lessen the commercialism of the season? What
are your most cherished traditions of the season?

Pam S.

Gad. I don't know what to do and I'm already in a state of controlled panic,
just like every year. I'm really sick of that and it's got to stop. I enjoy
getting the decorations out and the tree.But the shopping, forget it. It's
already a nightmare out there, and I get the feeling sometimes it doesn't mean
anything--we're just all puppets on the ends of the consumer marketing industry
strings. We're constantly bombarded from every direction.
It's time for me to quit worrying about my kids being disappoint if I don't
find the *exact right gift*. For God's sakes, they are 22 and 27.
Part of it is that since I quit working I have turned into practically a
recluse and I am starting to get almost phobic about crowds. The other part is
we absolutely do not have the extra cash this year.
But I digress... to answer your question, I've always found the really little
things I enjoy at Christmas. Even in this little town, there is a holiday
school band concert, the elementary school does a children's play/chorale. The
local piano teacher holds a Christmas recital for her students. I like to drive
around and look at lights. Our little country church does a Christmas music
service. And the cards! I am already getting *beautiful* cards from rpca and
that's going to be one of my favorite Christmas things, too.
Sherry

On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 03:26:59 GMT, Tanada wrote:

Sherry's post about the commercialism of the holidays got me thinking.
Some years money is really tight and we don't have a choice but to keep
the season simple. Other years we have plenty of money and the hard
thing is not to go overboard with giving. Last year was a tight year
and I just handed each person $20, took them to the dollar store, and
said, "bring in Christmas." I don't remember much of it, as I had that
really bad flu that was going around, but everyone said they enjoyed
themselves.

But what about this year, when we will have some extra money after
re-financing the house, and the temptation to put the dollars where the
heart is will be there? I talked it over with Rob, and we're talking
about handing each person $140 and saying bring it on in. That is $20
per person we're buying for, including the pets. We might buy a couple
of movies or a family present, but that depends on how much money we get
back from the escrow, and how much we put on the bills.

We're also going to cut down on the baked goodies, and the hype. Our
biggest event will be to drive around the neighborhood scoping out the
lights. We'll watch movies and relax.

Our most cherished New Years Eve tradition is to rent a bunch of movies,
order a pizza, and watch them all. We pause at Midnight to pound pan
lids together or set off a few fireworks, but that's it.

So, what are you doing to lessen the commercialism of the season? What
are your most cherished traditions of the season?

Pam S.

I try to avoid all the extreme commercial "buy! buy! buy!" as much as
possible normally, and with tight funds, it isn't hard - heh.

As Pagans/Wiccans, we celebrate Yule, so we actually are done with our
celebration a few days before Xmas, which is rather nice. We get to
relax, and maybe go visit the family for their Xmas celebration, but
we're already done, all gifts wrapped, cookies baked, etc.

Last year, for one of my dearest friends, I hand-embroidered a little
framed piece with kitties on it that said "Friends are Fur-ever". I
think it's nice to to handmade gifts when you have time and energy.
One of the best gifts we ever got was from my MIL -- one of those
small towel rice pack thingys that you can heat in the microwave and
put on aching muscles for relief.

I'm more traditional on Thanksgiving, and like to do the big feast :-)

Ginger-lyn
tired today and babbling

On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 03:26:59 GMT, Tanada wrote:

Sherry's post about the commercialism of the holidays got me thinking.
Some years money is really tight and we don't have a choice but to keep
the season simple. Other years we have plenty of money and the hard
thing is not to go overboard with giving. Last year was a tight year
and I just handed each person $20, took them to the dollar store, and
said, "bring in Christmas." I don't remember much of it, as I had that
really bad flu that was going around, but everyone said they enjoyed
themselves.

But what about this year, when we will have some extra money after
re-financing the house, and the temptation to put the dollars where the
heart is will be there? I talked it over with Rob, and we're talking
about handing each person $140 and saying bring it on in. That is $20
per person we're buying for, including the pets. We might buy a couple
of movies or a family present, but that depends on how much money we get
back from the escrow, and how much we put on the bills.

We're also going to cut down on the baked goodies, and the hype. Our
biggest event will be to drive around the neighborhood scoping out the
lights. We'll watch movies and relax.

Our most cherished New Years Eve tradition is to rent a bunch of movies,
order a pizza, and watch them all. We pause at Midnight to pound pan
lids together or set off a few fireworks, but that's it.

So, what are you doing to lessen the commercialism of the season? What
are your most cherished traditions of the season?

Pam S.

I try to avoid all the extreme commercial "buy! buy! buy!" as much as
possible normally, and with tight funds, it isn't hard - heh.

As Pagans/Wiccans, we celebrate Yule, so we actually are done with our
celebration a few days before Xmas, which is rather nice. We get to
relax, and maybe go visit the family for their Xmas celebration, but
we're already done, all gifts wrapped, cookies baked, etc.

Last year, for one of my dearest friends, I hand-embroidered a little
framed piece with kitties on it that said "Friends are Fur-ever". I
think it's nice to to handmade gifts when you have time and energy.
One of the best gifts we ever got was from my MIL -- one of those
small towel rice pack thingys that you can heat in the microwave and
put on aching muscles for relief.

I'm more traditional on Thanksgiving, and like to do the big feast :-)

Ginger-lyn
tired today and babbling

Tanada wrote:

Sherry's post about the commercialism of the holidays got me thinking.
Some years money is really tight and we don't have a choice but to keep
the season simple. Other years we have plenty of money and the hard
thing is not to go overboard with giving. Last year was a tight year
and I just handed each person $20, took them to the dollar store, and
said, "bring in Christmas." I don't remember much of it, as I had that
really bad flu that was going around, but everyone said they enjoyed
themselves.

But what about this year, when we will have some extra money after
re-financing the house, and the temptation to put the dollars where the
heart is will be there? I talked it over with Rob, and we're talking
about handing each person $140 and saying bring it on in. That is $20
per person we're buying for, including the pets. We might buy a couple
of movies or a family present, but that depends on how much money we get
back from the escrow, and how much we put on the bills.

We're also going to cut down on the baked goodies, and the hype. Our
biggest event will be to drive around the neighborhood scoping out the
lights. We'll watch movies and relax.

Our most cherished New Years Eve tradition is to rent a bunch of movies,
order a pizza, and watch them all. We pause at Midnight to pound pan
lids together or set off a few fireworks, but that's it.

So, what are you doing to lessen the commercialism of the season? What
are your most cherished traditions of the season?

Pam S.

All I have to say is my other nephew is getting a set of drums this
year! He's 3. Last year his parents laughed so hard at my other brother
and his wife when I gave their son, who was 3 last year, a drum set.
This year it's their turn. And of course since I don't have kids I can
walk away from it all. big evil grin

Bob

Tanada wrote:

Sherry's post about the commercialism of the holidays got me thinking.
Some years money is really tight and we don't have a choice but to keep
the season simple. Other years we have plenty of money and the hard
thing is not to go overboard with giving. Last year was a tight year
and I just handed each person $20, took them to the dollar store, and
said, "bring in Christmas." I don't remember much of it, as I had that
really bad flu that was going around, but everyone said they enjoyed
themselves.

But what about this year, when we will have some extra money after
re-financing the house, and the temptation to put the dollars where the
heart is will be there? I talked it over with Rob, and we're talking
about handing each person $140 and saying bring it on in. That is $20
per person we're buying for, including the pets. We might buy a couple
of movies or a family present, but that depends on how much money we get
back from the escrow, and how much we put on the bills.

We're also going to cut down on the baked goodies, and the hype. Our
biggest event will be to drive around the neighborhood scoping out the
lights. We'll watch movies and relax.

Our most cherished New Years Eve tradition is to rent a bunch of movies,
order a pizza, and watch them all. We pause at Midnight to pound pan
lids together or set off a few fireworks, but that's it.

So, what are you doing to lessen the commercialism of the season? What
are your most cherished traditions of the season?

Pam S.

All I have to say is my other nephew is getting a set of drums this
year! He's 3. Last year his parents laughed so hard at my other brother
and his wife when I gave their son, who was 3 last year, a drum set.
This year it's their turn. And of course since I don't have kids I can
walk away from it all. big evil grin

Bob

Yowie wrote:
"Tanada" wrote in message
link.net...


So, what are you doing to lessen the commercialism of the season? What
are your most cherished traditions of the season?


Now that my parents have two grandchildren to think about, we are going to
stop the madness and concentrate on the people who enkoy Christmas - the
kids. If you ask any of us adults we all just grown and secretly admit we
don't enjoy the season at all - its just one big horrible hassle, fighting
people inthe shops, worrying about what to get and making sure every body
get sthe same value, and don't even *start* me on my ungrateful self centred
rude obnoxious selfish in-laws (oh, wait, I started anyway) that we have to
deal with.

So, for my relatives at least (Joel won't be talked out of spending far too
much on his, he's trying to compensate because their mother passed away and
a father (or stepfather in Joel's case) doesn't give a fig about his
children) each couple is going to buy 1, just one, $20 gift for each of the
two other couples in the family, and concentrate on Cary and his cousin,
Sarah. Of course, that still means I have to figure out what to get Sarah,
who, much like Cary, will be far more interested in the ribbons and wrapping
paper than whatever is on the inside, but at least we won't go nuts this
year.


When my youngest niece was a little older than Cary one of my brothers
couldn't be with us for the holidays so he sent gifts for the kids in a
big shipping box. The box arrived Christmas Eve just as my family was
gathering. My other brother opened the box to show my niece the
beautifully wrapped packages inside but she cried. My brother didn't
have a clue as to why she was crying so he kept showing her the
packages. Finally my Dad said just put her down. She crawled over to
the box, got inside and spent the rest of the evening in the box playing
with the packing peanuts. Never did open a gift that night. My Dad in
all of his wisdom (raised 4 kids) knew what she wanted! That has to be
one of my fondest Christmas memories. I had never seen anyone so happy
as she was playing in that box. It is also something I keep in mind
ever year. Sometimes the simplest things are the best presents and we
started doing things like taking my nieces to a movie and out to lunch
as part of our gift to them along with some small wrapped gifts. My one
niece is now 13 and she told us that she doesn't always remember what we
get her year to year but she sure remembers the TIME we've always spent
with them.


As to Joel's family, I'm trying very hard to adopt the Christmas spirit with
them and be thankful that I have enough that we can give them something,
despite the fact that they couldn't be bothered to give anything - and I'm
not just talking about material things - in return.

Yowie



--
Margaret Fine